For some days now I’ve had to operate some changes on WordPress blogs whose URL was not valid (in order to see the preview or transfer of an old domain that is no longer functional). Here is how to change the main url of your WordPress installation trough phpMyAdmin .

1. Open an FTP program to search for the WordPress configuration file named wp-config.php
2. Search for the line define (‘DB_NAME’, ‘XXX_XXX‘); the name of the database is in red in this example.
3. Log in using phpMyAdmin and then select the database in question from the toolbar on the left.
4. You will then find the line (suffix)_option to the left
5. The line to edit is: siteurl

Now you only have to save the changes you just made and the site will be displayed correctly.

To celebrate the launch of C4M.CA we will be giving away a copy of Duke Nukem Forever ! (Redeemable on Steam) You can enter simply by commenting below! We will contact the winner by email so make sure you enter a valid one ! The contest ends on January 17th 2012 23:59 eastern time. Good Luck !

EDIT Jan 4th 2012 : Please DO NOT POST YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, you have to enter your email with livefyre only ! We don’t want you to receive any spam !

EDIT Jan 17th 2012 : Grats to Dimon222 our first giveaway winner !

Over the last month I’ve had a new challenge, that is to stop the spamming of a phpBB forum. After some research, I came across NuCaptcha, a flash script that prevents all spammers from registering on the forum since December 2011! Here’s a little preview of NuCaptcha:

As you can see, NuCaptcha offers both free and paid services. For the time being, we have chosen the free option in order to test the product. One of the biggest advantages of the product is that the free option gives you the right to 25,000 valid captcha per month! We’re not talking about trials, but about valid captcha, therefore only the authentic registrations will be counted in your monthly limit! As for the design, there are a few choices available to you: animated or fixed background. However, you must upgrade to pro package to be able to edit/remove the background image. The basic pro package costs $199 per month, which is unfortunately not given, allowing up to 100,000 valid captcha a month. I therefore suggest you take advantage of the free option as long as possible. Another disadvantage of NuCaptcha is that it is only available in English.

Here’s how to install it on phpBB 3.0.9 / 3.0.8

1. Download the files at: phpBB NuCaptcha Plugin
2. Extract the script through your favourite zip/rar software.
3. Connect to your host through FTP, you must then find the installation folder of phpBB 3.0.9 / 3.0.8
4. Transfer the files to the root of the phpBB installation
5. If you’re using another theme than the 2 default phpBB themes, you will need to transfer the file found in styles/prosilver/template/captcha_nucaptcha.html to the folder of your theme.

You can then activate it in the anti-spam tab of your phpBB admin section, so you must be registered on their site in order to find the API key. Then you can edit the design among those available directly on their website. If you have any questions about NuCaptcha and its installation, do not hesitate to leave a comment!

Over the last few days I’ve learnt how to use the mass mailing software poMMo, which offers beginners easy access to an organized mailing list (also known as bulk dispatch or mass mailling).Then you must simply integrate an HTML code to your site so that users can register and unsubscribe.

Advantages:

• Easy installation, available with some hosts through softaculus
• Easy to import and export contacts
• Limited dispatch per hour available
• Ready to use in less than an hour
• Automated e-mail customization (Confirmation of registration, etc.)
• Free of charge

Disadvantages:

• Only one HTML template available
• No options/functionality available for advanced users
• Minor visual bug with the menu
• Poor translation
• The script was last updated in 2008, so it may contain security flaws

If you think the script would meet your needs, the following few points will serve as a guided tour.

Mailing:

1. Send: Use this option to contact your current recipient list.
2. History: This is where you can see e-mails sent in the past and resend them.

Subscribers:

1. Manage: See and change the list of all your recipients.
2. Import: Import your recipients in a single list or in .CSV format. poMMo automatically sorts duplicate or incomplete e-mails.
3. Group: If you wish to group recipients, for instance if you are managing multiple websites/blogs from the same interface. ATTENTION: I don’t recommend managing multiple websites from a single poMMo installation.

Initial setup:

1. Configure: Do not skip this step!

• SMTP username: The place to enter the necessary information for the SMTP (outgoing mail server)
• General: General information to fill out regarding your website and redirecting links once the user has registered.
• Mailing: Setup of mail to send, disabling of the demo mode and limiting the mail dispatch per hour.
• Messages: Setup of automatic emails sent during user registration.

1. Subscriber fields: Add/Remove subscription fields (Last name, First name, Address, Reference …)
2. Subscription form: Link to the direct registration page or HTML source code to integrate your website.

Now that the tour is complete, you can download the software directly from the Sourceforge website.

Summary:   The poMMo software stands out thanks to its simple interface and sleek design.Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer enough advanced functionality for the great e-mail senders to adopt it, but there are no other free and qualitative alternatives for small businesses.

C4M.net is a blog that serves as a knowledge base for all web users, its initial goal being to reveal to you all my knowledge of WebHosting, CMS and E-Commerce. Other related topics will also be discussed. I don’t believe that the work of a computer technician is worth $75 an hour and that’s why you will find here as much information as possible, all that completely free! Our team recommends free solutions, but from time to time we will also advise you on paid solutions. Most importantly, do not hesitate to ask questions on different topics, as they will all be dealt with on the website both in French and in English. C4M.ca will be the link to the French section of the site while C4M.net will be the English section.

Enjoy!

My clients often work on their website before publishing it, so it’s located in a folder that’s not visible from the website. When the site is ready, they must change the WordPress installation directory.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Login and password for the admin section of WordPress.
• FTP connection to your web host
• Spare time of about 30 minutes

What you have to do:

1. Log into the admin interface of WordPress, located by default at: siteweb.com/wp-admin/
2. Go to the Settings section of WordPress, then change the URL in the Site Address (URL) section to the desired one. Warning! : Once this is changed, you will no longer have access to your admin section!
3. Connect to your web host using FTP, then find the folder containing the WordPress installation in question (public_html with the cPanel servers).
4. Once you’re inside the WordPress installation folder, you can drag and drop the files into the folder of your choice. However, I recommend leaving a copy of the file named wp-content, because customers have often used the WordPress media tool for uploading their images.
5. You can now reconnect to your admin interface in order to make the last change. In the Settings section you will find the option Media. The Store uploads in this folder field should be empty so that the default value wp-content/uploads be taken into account.

Disadvantages:

This change is not recommended for old blogs because all the backlinks will return a 404 error or they will return to the main page if the redirection is programmed with a .htaccess file.